Finally, it was the night before Elizabeth's 18th birthday, the day she was to set off for the capital city and join the Grand Infantry under the Archmagus of War. Elizabeth wasn't able to sleep the entire night, thinking about the fact that tomorrow the entire village would be wishing her well on her journey, and she'd finally take her next step towards becoming an Archmagi.
"Tomorrow... it all starts tomorrow..." Elizabeth looks up at her ceiling from her bed. In that moment, she knew she wouldn't be able to get any sleep, throwing her blankets off and sitting up. She changes from her set of pajamas into a pair of jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a dark golden cardigan. Elizabeth yawns as she begins walking towards her window, sliding it open slowly to let in the late-night breeze. The window squeaks slightly as she slides it open delicately. Elizabeth could see her breath from how cold it was, which meant the perfect condition for her and her affinity.
Her room was on the third story of Dr. Mitimus and Dalia's house. After they took her in, they had to make her up a room in what used to be their attic, which meant that Elizabeth became adept at sneaking out using her magic. Due to Dr. Mitimus teaching her how to use her mana to form magic, she had gained the ability to use her latent powers to an extent.
"So, Elizabeth, what do you know about mana and magic?" Elizabeth begins remembering what Dr. Mitimus thought about her powers.
"Well, I know that magic is... to be honest, I've never really thought about it, Uncle Roy." A younger Elizabeth responded.
"You see, mana is an energy, a building block for all life, all magic. Every living thing is born with mana, it is overflowing, and all around us. The grass, the trees, magic creatures, humans, everything is born with mana. Now, some are born with more than others, for example, you were born with such a tremendous amount of mana that you changed the weather of the entire village, severely, as I might add. You almost blew the entire clinic down on top of us." Roy chuckled to himself. "Now, if you focus, you can feel your mana, and the mana around you to an extent. It takes incredible control and focus to start using it, though. Magic is what we, as humans, use mana for. It is the actual creation or production of whatever we pour our mana into. Think like this," Roy lowered himself down onto one knee, placing his hand on the ground. "Currently, I'm pushing the mana in my body into my palm, and," The ground begins to vibrate lightly around the doctor's palm. "The magic is the actual vibration I create using it. Now, an affinity is like a blueprint we're all born with. It makes it easier for our bodies to use our mana and make certain kinds of magic. This technically means that with enough focus and control, you can use any magic you could think of, but it will also drain your mana much faster than anybody can realistically handle to use a magic not of your affinity. There are also spells, which are more complicated forms of magic, and truthfully, what most people aspire to create with their magic..."
Elizabeth chuckles under her breath, remembering how excited her Uncle Roy could get when he talked about magic and science. Luckily, his teachings and ramblings weren't a waste on her as she began climbing out of the window, circulating her mana towards her feet, commanding it to create snow, enough of it that she would break her fall, and land on the ground silently. Elizabeth threw herself out the window, with snow being created beneath her feet as she fell, until she hit the ground in a massive pile of it. She had become an expert in this after years of practice. She dug herself out of it and began to stride towards the outskirts of her village.
"Can't sleep, can you?" A male voice asks from behind Elizabeth, causing her to turn in a panic, creating and launching a massive snowball at their head. The tall, blonde boy ducked quickly, barely evading the snowball barreling towards him. "Woah! Watch it, Lizzie, it's just me." The boy laughs nervously as he stands back up straight.
"Oh god, Dylan? What're you doing up and out of the house this late?" Elizabeth asks her adoptive brother, breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't Roy or Dalia.
"Well, apparently dodging massive boulders of snow the size of my head." Dylan waves his arms dramatically, chuckling. "I figured you weren't gonna fall asleep so easily, I couldn't either. My little sis is leaving tomorrow after all. And it's not like I couldn't take a guess you were gonna sneak out like usual."
"Hey, you're making me sound like a delinquent," The pair laughs to each other as Elizabeth turns and starts walking, waving for Dylan to follow. Dylan jogs up and then keeps in stride with her.
"Well, maybe if you'd stop sneaking out every night to train, and, I mean, I don't know, slept, I'd have less to say," Dylan says as he catches up with her.
"C'mon Dyl, you know how hard it is to get into the Royal Infantry, even if I were from a high-class family with powerful magic for centuries, but I don't even have that." Elizabeth complains, "It's like Roy always says, 'Families born out here are born to live simple lives, only using magic to make things a little easier.'"
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me of the life I have to live," Dylan scoffs, jokingly. "But seriously, you're like the strongest person to ever come out of this stupid village. Can you believe I'm supposed to be the second strongest?" Dylan asks, his eyes widening in exclamation, "It's ridiculous, all I can do is create tremors a few meters into the ground. Useful for mining, but beyond that, I'm not anywhere close to you."
"Hey, don't talk about yourself like that, you and I both know you've done some pretty impressive stunts with your affinity. Since you joined the workforce, I hear they've been producing an extra thirty percent from the mines." Elizabeth waves her hand as she speaks. "All I've been able to do is conjure blizzards, snow, and ice."
"You're forgetting to mention the most dangerous blizzards, mountains of snow, and ice-BERGS!" Dylan once again says as dramatically as possible. "They'd be idiots not to let you into the Royal Infantry. You've gotta be on the same level as an Archmagus. Also, by the way, where are we going?" Dylan finally asks as they reach the border of the village and begin walking on a dirty path shadowed by dead trees covered in snow.
Elizabeth looks down somberly as she walks further down the path and deeper into the trees, "I have to say goodbye, Dyl." She swallows hard, "Might be the last chance I get in a while."
Dylan stops in his tracks, causing Elizabeth to do the same, "Right... I... well... I'll just wait back by the main road, you know... give you some privacy then."
"Thanks, Dyl, it might be a while, though. I would hate to make you wait up for me out here in the cold." Elizabeth rubs her left arm nervously.
"Don't worry about me, cold winds run through my veins, I'll wait as long as you need. Plus, this fur coat was made of Greywolfe hide, I can't feel a bit of this Breeze." Dylan smiles before turning around and throwing his hood up, walking back to the main road, leaving Elizabeth on her lonesome.
Elizabeth smiled as Dylan turned, but her smile slowly faded in place of a mournful frown. Her thoughts couldn't help but wander to her mother on this night. As Elizabeth turned away from Dylan and she continued to walk down the path. She finally reached a small outcrop of tombstones, surrounded by a small fence of rocks, of all different shapes and sizes, stacked together, somewhat haphazardly and yet stable nonetheless.
Elizabeth continued through the graveyard, walking to one tombstone in particular, this being her mother's. When she reached it, Elizabeth sat down at the foot of it, looking up at her mother's epitaph. 'Caring Teacher, Friend To All, Loving Mother.'
"Hey, Mom," Elizabeth said, her face forlorn, "I'm about to leave for the capital, so I'm sorry if I can't visit for a while. But I'm finally going to chase my destiny, just like you wanted. I'm gonna join the Royal Infantry, and become just as strong as an Archmagus, just like I said, Mama." Elizabeth swallows, trying not to cry as she speaks. "I wish you could be here, to see how far I've come. I've been working on spells and everything just like Uncle Roy taught me. You would be so proud, and I'll do my best to make sure you always would be. I'll fight to protect everyone just like the Archmagi did during the war of the dragons, I promise, Mom." Elizabeth begins pouring her mana into her hands, creating ice in the shape of a rose, and then another, and another, until she had a full bouquet in her hands. She then created a bow of ice to warp them up, even though it didn't bend like ribbon, it held all of the flowers regardless. She then placed them in front of her mother's tombstone.
"It's my eighteenth birthday today," Elizabeth breathed in deeply, her breath ragged and shaky, as she was on the verge of tears. "It's still hard to know you can't watch me become what you hoped I would. I just have to keep telling myself that 'She would've wanted me to grow up and use my powers to help people, become as strong as I can be,' but it's still hard." Elizabeth begins crying softly as she speaks. "Roy and Dalia have been great, no surprise there," Elizabeth chuckles slightly at that. "Not like they haven't been every time I come to see you. I'm worried about Dyl, I just hope that I can still send him letters while I'm in the infantry," Elizabeth wipes away some of her tears, trying to stop herself from crying any worse. "What else, what else? I've been helping in the clinic still, making ice and chilling cloths to help those with fevers or simple bumps and bruises. Uncle Roy keeps telling me I could stay here as his assistant, learn medicine and science with him and Dalia instead. I think he's just a little worried about me going off on my own, but I know that if there's a chance I can do more, I have to. Gotta keep the kingdom safe from threats like Aquivis, right, Mom?" Elizabeth smiles sadly once again, looking longingly at the tombstone. "The exams are going to be tough, I'm sure. I hear from our traders, who hear from other traders, that the infantry exams include a written portion and a show of magic powers overseen by the Archmagus of War himself. He's not the same one you knew. I don't know his name yet, but apparently, he has the strongest lightning affinity in history. He's the only other person with one of the Seven Primary Elements, besides me, I've heard of who's still alive. Uncle Roy says all magic is based on the Seven Primary Elements, just more complicated versions of them, all including bits and pieces of different ones. I'm sure you already knew that, I mean, Uncle Roy obviously would've said it at some point. Sometimes I just can't believe that I was born with such a rare affinity. I feel like I just sort of lucked into this power, like I didn't deserve it sometimes. I don't know if I'm ready for this..." Elizabeth trails off, her eyes looking down, seemingly staring into nothing.
The sun begins to rise, even with the overcast skies, the first rays of sunshine pour through, resting over the graveyard, and the side of Elizabeth's face. She turns her head to face the sunrise, "Well... I guess it's officially my eighteenth birthday. I'm glad the first person I get to talk to is you." Elizabeth stands and pats her clothes off. "Still nice, I'll never get cold cause of my affinity, huh, Mom? Helps out a lot in the middle of the mountains. Well, I'd best be off I've got a lot of people to say goodbye to before I leave, and I'm sure it'll be a long journey to the capital. Even if everything goes perfectly, it's going to take me about a week from what Uncle Roy said. I just wanted to talk to you one last time and say goodbye... I love you, Mom, I promise when I come back I'll sit and tell you everything that's happened."
Elizabeth swallows, wiping away another tear, turning away, and beginning to walk back to where she left Dylan on the main road.
"Today's the day, everything changes." She mutters under her breath one final time.